Useful Wine Sites

Cellar Tracker

CEO Eric LeVine (a perfect name for the wine industry)

Cost:  Voluntary payment based on your cellar size.

Website:  Cellar Tracker

We will start with the addictive site know as Cellar Tracker.  There are two versions the classic and modern.  Cellar Tracker was one of the first major operations to allow the world to organize their cellar, write tasting tastings and use features such as Wine Searcher after looking at tasting notes.  Here are some of the great benefits of Cellar Tracker:

1.  You can organize your cellar efficiently.
2. You can put down the price you paid for the wine and compare against other users average price.
3. You can quickly remove wines from your cellar once consumed.
4. You can see what others think of the wine with either scores, notes or my favorite of course notes and scores.
5. You can click on the Wine Searcher feature and go right to where you can buy the wine.
6. You can post wine events and view others wine adventures.
7. You can add cellar buddies and several features allow you to search for your favorite wines of all time.

Probably my favorite thing about Cellar Tracker is the ability to write tasting notes and drink the same wine down the road to see a prediction was right or wrong.  Any time us wine geeks are making drinking window predictions we are making educated guesses.  It is always rewarding when you nail it though.

Wine Berserkers

Todd French

Cost:  Voluntary donation

Website:  Wine Berserkers Forum

This wine board was created after the Robert Parker Board went to a paid subscription.  The old Robert Parker board was the place to discuss wine, set up offline events (wine dinners) and get in debates with people who had a little too much to drink.  Mark Squires decided that only paid customers could have access and that is when many of the members drifted over to Wine Berserkers. With over 13,000 users it has plenty of wine discussions to keep you busy while sipping your favorite wine.  Todd French is the man in charge and several posters are some of the biggest wine drinkers in the world.  Don’t fear though there are plenty of people like me that drink wines that cost less than $50 on a regular basis.  Here are some of the great benefits of Wine Berserkers:

1.  You will discover new wines you have never heard of.
2. You can post tasting notes from Cellar Tracker and get feedback from others.
3. Many board members will post some great wine deals.
4. You will learn about the happenings in the wine world.
5. It is fun to talk about wine with worldwide users.

I enjoy sharing my wine experiences with others and while there are some heated debates that will be found any board.  There are articles and other features here that I seldom use.

Wine Searcher

Founded in New Zealand of all places Wine Searcher is the world’s best site to find wines and prices.  They have been around since 1999.  It is a simple program to use.  You type in the wine and vintage and away you go.  The main issue currently is the shipping regulations.  Before buying check each online wine operation to see if they can ship directly to you.  Since I am not always home I use FedEx Office.

I think you will find these 3 sites very useful and will hopefully expand your wine knowledge.

Cheers,

John